Visit to Rhodes by a delegation of the Committee "Greece 2021"
SPOTLIGHT

Visit to Rhodes by a delegation of the Committee "Greece 2021"

• The Committee "Greece 2021" in Rhodes - Meetings with the Regional Governor of South Aegean and the Mayor of Rhodes

• Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki: We will use everything great we have inherited from the past to mold our future course

• His Eminence Metropolitan Bishop of Rhodes Kyrillos: United, we have achieved the impossible

 Rhodes, the Knights island, the administrative center of the Dodecanese with its great cultural wealth, was visited by a Committee "Greece 2021" delegation. "On the 200th anniversary, we are not only honoring the past; we look to the future. We highlight our assets and improve them. It is what progress and prosperity mean. It is how people endure, and a state evolves. Many Rhodians helped in the Struggle in 1821. Today, the Municipality of Rhodes commemorates the anniversary of the Revolution by opening a window into the future. It is the promise that compels us for 2021. To use everything great we have inherited from the past and mold our future course", said the President of the Committee "Greece 2021", Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki.

Members of the Assembly of the Committee "Greece 2021" Professors Nikos Kanellopoulos and Despoina Mouzaki, also participated in the delegation.

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Rhodes looking to the future

The President and the Members of the Assembly met with the Regional Governor of South Aegean, Giorgos Hatzimarkos, and the Mayor of Rhodes Antonis Kambourakis. "We are going through a period of challenges as well as opportunities. Through our history, we can highlight the aspect that has made us exceptional for thousands of years and, at the same time, we can move forward into the future. The Committee will find loyal allies here, in the Dodecanese, in this wonderful place that provided and will continue to provide Greece with status, reputation, opportunities," said the Regional Governor of South Aegean.

"2021 is a historic opportunity to present 21st century Greece to the world and prove ourselves worthy. Prove that we deserve both greatness and challenge, that a nation with a history that spans over three millennia knows how to overcome adversity and continue on the path of light and hope. Greece is, above all, an idea. Greece of the free man" stressed the Mayor of Rhodes. Mr. Kambourakis made special reference to the philhellenism that helped the Struggle of 1821, linking it to the philhellenism of today, which "can help in many fields in this sensitive neighborhood of Europe". "The best protection against present challenges is development, progress, prosperity, opportunities for our children to remain in their country," he concluded.

The Committee delegation also had productive discussions with representatives of the local community at a meeting held in the Chamber of the Regional Council, in the presence of the Regional Governor of South Aegean, the Mayor of Rhodes, His Eminence Metropolitan Bishop of Rhodes Kyrillos, and the MP for the Dodecanese, Mika Iatridou. The proposals submitted by the Municipality of Rhodes to the Committee were discussed at the meeting. They are proposals that look to the future by developing initiatives that will leave a legacy for future generations, such as the proposal to create environmentally friendly infrastructure with the strengthening of electromobility in the city and educational projects that will improve the citizens' daily life.

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"The Municipality's proposals honor the past by opening a door for the future. The Rhodians have realized that tourism and economic sustainability are inseparable from caring for the environment and the continuous effort for innovation and development. We see this both in the proposals and in the applications of the smart city and electromobility already implemented by the Municipality," said the President of the Committee. She added: "We support our country by honoring our past, but at the same time by creating opportunities for development throughout the entire region. That is what modern patriotism means."

"We are in an area that has been an incubator of sustainable business projects for many years. An area that capitalizes on its unique products, its services, that invests in tourism," said Assembly Member Nikos Kanellopoulos. "We are in Rhodes, a cradle of culture, education, entrepreneurship, history. Rhodes and the South Aegean Region are a source of inspiration for us,” stressed Assembly Member Despoina Mouzaki.

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"United, we achieved things that seemed impossible."

The Committee delegation visited the Holy Metropolis of Rhodes, where they met with His Eminence Metropolitan Bishop of Rhodes Kyrillos. The Metropolitan Bishop's comments on the need for unity among the Greeks created a particularly positive reaction: "We must proceed united as a people, leaving behind anything that could divide us. We have a dynamic momentum. We have always been a handful of people. But the few, as Makriyiannis has said, united, achieved what seemed impossible in the eyes of the powers of the time. It was truly a revolution." For her part, the President of the Committee pointed out the leading role of the Church during the two centuries of Greece's modern history and the moral support the Church provided to the congregation.

The President and the Committee delegation also visited the Medieval city of Rhodes, where they boarded electric cars to the historic Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights. There they were guided by the Ephor of the Dodecanese Antiquities, Mania Michailidou. It is worth mentioning that the Municipality has submitted to the State a plan of interventions for the improvement of the Medieval city. It focuses on the use of smart technologies for electric lighting, parking and waste management, and the promotion of recycling and electromobility.

During the visit, the Mayor of Rhodes offered the Committee delegation a miniature of Engonopoulos' painting, the "Oath of the Friendly Society members." The Municipality intends to lend this painting, housed in the Municipal Gallery of Rhodes, along with the Theophilos Hatzimihail painting "Brigand Davelis", to the Benaki Museum for a large exhibition dedicated to the 200 years since the Revolution.